{"id":63393,"date":"2026-06-18T14:38:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T18:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/trump-urges-regional-ceasefire-as-anthropic-seeks-end-to-ai-model-ban\/63393\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T14:38:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T18:38:15","slug":"trump-urges-regional-ceasefire-as-anthropic-seeks-end-to-ai-model-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/trump-urges-regional-ceasefire-as-anthropic-seeks-end-to-ai-model-ban\/63393\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Urges Regional Ceasefire as Anthropic Seeks End to AI Model Ban"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>President Trump<\/strong> called for a <strong>complete ceasefire<\/strong> on all Middle East fronts, including <strong>Lebanon<\/strong>, <strong>Hezbollah<\/strong>, and <strong>Israel<\/strong>, following the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with <strong>Iran<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/energy\/crude-oil\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"12\" title=\"Crude oil\">Oil prices<\/a><\/strong> tumbled as much as <strong>2%<\/strong>, with <strong>Brent crude<\/strong> falling toward <strong>$78 per barrel<\/strong> and <strong>WTI<\/strong> dropping to <strong>$75<\/strong>, as the <strong>Strait of Hormuz<\/strong> began to reopen for commercial shipping.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Anthropic<\/strong> has submitted a formal proposal to <strong>Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick<\/strong> to lift the federal ban on its <strong>Mythos<\/strong> and <strong>Fable<\/strong> AI models, which were restricted last week over national security concerns.<\/li>\n<li>Global equity markets rallied on the de-escalation news, with the <strong>Nikkei 225<\/strong> hitting an all-time high and U.S. stock futures trending upward.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Trump Signals Middle East De-escalation; Markets React<\/h2>\n<p>President <strong>Donald Trump<\/strong> took to <strong>Truth Social<\/strong> on Thursday to urge all parties in the Middle East to maintain their commitment to peace. The President noted that the &quot;United States is committed to PEACE&quot; and called for a total cessation of hostilities involving <strong>Israel<\/strong>, <strong>Hezbollah<\/strong>, and <strong>Lebanon<\/strong>. This message follows the recent signing of a 14-point memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and <strong>Iran<\/strong>, which has initiated a 60-day negotiation period to reach a final peace agreement.<\/p>\n<p>Financial markets responded immediately to the diplomatic progress, with <strong>oil prices<\/strong> continuing their downward trajectory as geopolitical risk premiums evaporated. <strong>Brent crude<\/strong> futures fell <strong>1.6%<\/strong> to <strong>$78.43<\/strong>, while <strong>West Texas Intermediate (WTI)<\/strong> (<a href=\"\/stock\/WTI\">WTI<\/a>) dropped over <strong>2%<\/strong> to settle near <strong>$75.00<\/strong>. Energy giants such as <strong>Exxon Mobil<\/strong> (<a href=\"\/stock\/XOM\">XOM<\/a>) and <strong>Chevron<\/strong> (<a href=\"\/stock\/CVX\">CVX<\/a>) faced downward pressure, while broader equity indices climbed on hopes of stabilized energy costs and restored global supply chains.<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>Strait of Hormuz<\/strong>, a critical chokepoint for <strong>20%<\/strong> of the world&#39;s oil supply, has seen a &quot;noticeable increase&quot; in traffic. According to <strong>Lloyd&#39;s List Intelligence<\/strong>, major shipowners including <strong>Cosco<\/strong> and <strong>NYK<\/strong> have begun moving vessels through the waterway for the first time in over 100 days. While roughly <strong>80 mines<\/strong> still require clearing from the central route, tankers are successfully utilizing northern and southern passages through Iranian and Omani waters.<\/p>\n<h2>Anthropic Fights to Restore Access to &#39;Mythos&#39; and &#39;Fable&#39;<\/h2>\n<p>In the technology sector, <strong>Anthropic<\/strong> is aggressively lobbying the <strong>Trump Administration<\/strong> to reverse an export control directive that forced the company to disable its most advanced AI models. The company reportedly floated a proposal to <strong>Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick<\/strong> aimed at resolving the standoff over <strong>Mythos<\/strong> and <strong>Fable<\/strong>, the latter of which was publicly released just days before the ban. The government&#39;s restrictions were triggered by concerns that the models could be &quot;jailbroken&quot; to identify critical cybersecurity vulnerabilities.<\/p>\n<p>The ban has drawn sharp criticism from a bipartisan group of lawmakers and over <strong>150 cybersecurity experts<\/strong>, who argue that the restrictions handicap American defenders while foreign adversaries continue to develop similar capabilities. <strong>Amazon<\/strong> (<a href=\"\/stock\/AMZN\">AMZN<\/a>), a major investor in <strong>Anthropic<\/strong>, reportedly alerted officials to the model&#39;s ability to bypass safety guardrails, leading to the <strong>Department of Commerce<\/strong> order that gave the firm less than <strong>90 minutes<\/strong> to comply.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Anthropic<\/strong> maintains that its safeguards are &quot;substantially more effective&quot; than any previously deployed model and that the vulnerabilities identified by the government are present in other publicly available systems. The company&#39;s proposal to <strong>Secretary Lutnick<\/strong> likely includes enhanced monitoring and restricted access protocols designed to satisfy national security requirements without a total blackout of the technology. As of Thursday afternoon, the <strong>Commerce Department<\/strong> has not issued an official response to the proposal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways President Trump called for a complete ceasefire on all Middle East fronts, including Lebanon, Hezbollah, and Israel, following 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